Career-focused classes give students head start

With more courses available, kids get early opportunities to figure out what they want to do after high school

Sep. 14, 2013

Ben See, a Campbell County High School senior, uses a flight simulator in the school's technology lab. The device allows the student to select different departure and arrival airports. / The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy

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Kentucky

In 2009 Gov. Steve Beshear signed Senate Bill 1 into law, which led to several college and career readiness initiatives in the state. A 2011 push tells districts to cut in half the number of students who are not college or career ready (as measured by ACT or other test scores and career certifications). Ohio

Gov. John Kasich’s budget, approved in June, added new policies pushing career technical schools to offer courses that are better aligned with the needs of employers. The state is also developing college/career readiness measures to include on the report cards for schools and districts.

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ALEXANDRIA — Campbell County High School senior Ben See, of Alexandria, climbed into the “hot seat,” a simulated cockpit surrounded by computer screens. The screens flickered to life.

He was suddenly looking at a computerized runway from the pilot’s seat of an F-18 fighter jet. He pulled back on the yoke and took off, other students gathering behind to watch the show.

It’s just a part of life for Campbell County High School students: You can learn to fly a plane. Literally.

The school launched an aerospace class last year and added an aviation simulator this year. Students learn about aerodynamics, how to design and fly planes and all the math and science that goes with those subjects.

They earn college credit and can even get enough hours to test for a pilot’s license.

“The ultimate goal is that the Kentucky Department of Education says our kids have to be college or career ready,” said teacher Ron Rosel. “They are.”

The popular course is part of a growing movement among school districts to load career-focused courses, particularly the college-track ones, into high schools. The Boone County School District offers a similar aviation/aerospace course at Conner High School, and the Warren County Career Center also boasts an aviation course. Other high-tech career classes are popping up in high schools from Fort Thomas to Cincinnati.

The growth of these programs is no accident. Years ago, if you wanted something career-specific, you went to vocational school or waited until college.

Today, career technical schools still offer welding and automotive repair, but are also increasingly offering higher-level courses in computer technology or advanced manufacturing, some of which require additional training after graduation. High schools are doing the same thing, offering more specialized, high-tech, career-focused classes in-house.

It’s part of a national push to improve the college and career readiness of students throughout the country. Too often, critics say, students graduate ill-equipped for the demands of the working world or languish in college because they aren’t prepared for college coursework or change their majors several times.

“School districts are inventing new ways to provide kids with earlier opportunities to focus on what they want to be when they grow up,” said Jim Stone, a professor at the University of Louisville and director of the National Research Center for Career Technical Education. “You have regional centers like Great Oaks (a Sharonville-based career technical school), and you also have the locally controlled traditional high schools that are recognizing they need to expand options for kids.”

Campbell and Boone counties’ school districts are among 23 in Kentucky that belong to the Frankfort-based Institute for Aerospace Education, formerly called the Kentucky Institute for Aerospace Education. It recently expanded to add a Tennessee school and soon hopes to partner with schools in Ohio and Indiana.

The institute helps schools establish aviation/aerospace classes. Its mission is to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education and create career paths in aerospace.

“I’m a pilot and I’ve been working in education for 26 years,” said Tim Smith, IAE’s executive director and CEO. “Education should be providing kids content that connects education to work so they connect with what they’re learning in class. I thought aerospace was a great way to teach kids more STEM.”

“Kids want purpose,” he said. “They try to find out if this is the one thing they love to do. If it is, they can jump in and get amazing experience for four years of high school up through taking college classes their senior year. We’re giving them a huge head start and we’re also giving them a purpose.”

He said these classes can reduce the dropout rate, increase the college-going rate and improve students’ college experience.

“(Otherwise) they think they want to be a pilot then they get into college and have paid all this money for something they don’t really like to do,” he said.

In the aviation classes, students learn about airplane design and construct an airplane wing for a model plane. The schools send students to state competitions where the planes are flown and prizes awarded for best wing design.

The flight simulators can earn hours toward a student’s pilot’s license. Campbell County’s classes allow students to earn college credit as well. Conner High School will have that option next year.

Conner High School has seen interest soar for its aviation classes this year.

“I think it’s part of that 21st century thinking – that we have to have all our students college and career ready,” said Sue Sorrell, career readiness coordinator at Conner. “It’s a great application of STEM.”

The IAE urges schools to lean on local partners and federal grants for financial support. Campbell County’s aviation simulators cost about $8,000 each.

Stone, the University of Louisville professor, supports such initiatives. But cost could eventually become a concern when the now state-of-the-art equipment becomes outdated, especially if education policy changes focus again, he said.

“A historic problem with these programs is you can’t rely on the school funding formula. So you have to rely on business and industry,” he said.

“In the U.S. we have an incredibly short attention span. You see that in education policy. It wasn’t that long ago that they were wiping out career tech programs across the country in favor of more math.”

Conner and Campbell County high schools aren’t the only ones to offer career-oriented courses in high school.

• Norwood City Schools started offering business technology and pre-engineering courses this year. The engineering class is a dual credit course taught in partnership with the University of Cincinnati. In business class, students run a student store. They take inventory, design shirts and market and sell the products. The engineering class is also a dual credit course taught in partnership with the University of Cincinnati.

• The Fort Thomas Independent School District offers a media and broadcasting program at Highlands High School with equipment that’s “on par with what you’d find at a local television station,” said Superintendent Gene Kirchner. Students produce live newscasts, conduct interviews with coaches and broadcast sporting events. They film school board and City Council meetings for broadcast on public access television.

• Newport High School offers a graphics arts class and lab where students design shirts and other products to sell in the community.

• Anderson and Turpin high schools in the Forest Hills district offer an Engineering Your Future course in partnership with the University of Cincinnati.

• Hughes STEM High School in the Cincinnati Public Schools offers an engineering program that includes a segment where students build robots. It also offers a Zoo Academy, where students get hands-on work with the Cincinnati Zoo. The district’s Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School offers classes that help students get certification in information technology fields.

• Batavia High School doesn’t offer specialized courses, but it is putting more emphasis on making sure students leave high school with a clear path in mind. It launched a career and college planning course for juniors and seniors that introduces them to different career fields and helps them navigate the college application process, complete with college visits. ■

I cover the stories and issues that matter in Northern Kentucky’s schools. Email me at jlbrown@enquirer.com